Understanding different levels of word meanings

THE effect that a word has on its audience is part of the meaning of the word. A word can have different meanings for different people and in different situations.

Understanding the effects that your words have will help you make better choices when you write.
Specific words: The English language is full of general nouns and verbs.

The word house is a general noun that could refer to any number of specific dwellings: a brick row house, an apartment house, a prefab, an adobe hut, a mobile home, a farm house.

General words tend to weaken your writing because they call up only a vague picture in your reader’s mind.

Take, for example, the sentence: “I went to the store. Is it a video store, a hardware store, a grocery, a deli, or a boutique? Even the verb went could be more specific – did the speaker walk, run, dash, meander, or fly? Maybe the speaker rode the bus or drove.

This resonates with the changing of sentence beginnings to improve the quality of sentences.
Vivid words are specific words that appeal to the senses.

A well-chosen vivid word can make a dramatic impression on the readers. When your audience can see, hear, touch, taste and smell what you are describing, your writing will come alive.

One writer says: “If you compare writing that does not use vivid words to writing that does, the contrast is like the difference between a black-and-white film and a colour film.

Understand non-sexist language. Non-sexist language is language that applies to people in general, both male and female. When you are referring to humanity as a whole, non-sexist expressions are appropriate than gender-specific ones.

For example, you might use the non-sexist terms humanity, human beings, and people instead of the gender-specific term mankind.

Where does this come from? Now that most jobs are held by both men and women, language is adjusting to reflect this change.

Following are some widely used non-sexist terms that you can use to replace the older, gender-specific ones.

The list shows gender-specific terms followed by non-sexist: businessman- executive, businessperson, chairman –chairperson, deliveryman –delivery-person, and fireman – firefighter.

Foreman- supervisor, housewife – homemaker, mailman –mail carrier, manmade – synthetic, manpower – workers, human resources, may the best man win – may the best person win, policeman – police officer, salesman – salesperson, steward, stewardess – flight attendant, and watchman – security guard.

Euphemisms are indirect, agreeable words used in place of direct words that might seem offensive to people.

Most euphemisms are used as a courtesy. For example, instead of saying that your best friend’s dog is hyperactive, you might say the animal is “frisky”. During dinner at a neighbour’s house, you might refer to a strange dish as “interesting” or “unusual” rather than “odd” or “bizarre”.

Following are some of the euphemisms you might hear, read, or use in everyday life. These come under euphemism and more direct term: deceased – dead; correctional institution – prison, offender criminal, memorial garden – cemetery; misrepresentation – lie and powder room – toilet.

The adverb falls under the eight parts of speech. An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Most adverbs modify by telling how, when, where, or to what extent.

Adverbs are most commonly used to modify verbs and verb phrases. Examples: He reads slowly. (how).

She reads early and late. (when). She reads everywhere. (where) She reads thoroughly. (to what extent).
Adverbs may modify adjectives. Examples: She is quite creative.

(The adverb quite modifies the adjective: creative, telling to what extent. Adverbs may also modify other adverbs.

Debra runs remarkably swiftly (The adverb too modifies the adverb soon, telling to what extent.) Note: The word not and its contraction, -n’t are classified as adverbs, they tell to what extent.

Nouns used as adverbs. His parents left yesterday. (The noun yesterday is used as an adverb, telling when). They will return home Saturday. (The noun home is used as an adverb, telling where. The noun Saturday is used as an adverb, telling when.

The same word as different parts of speech. A word’s part of speech is determined by how the word is used in a sentence.

Example: The plant is found in Zimbabwe. (plant noun). We plant tomatoes every year. (plant –verb). Bacteria cause many plant diseases. (plant – adjective). Roger led, and we followed after: (after – adverb).

We crossed the finish line after Roger, (after – preposition). We crossed it after all the other runners did, too. (after – conjunction). Remember a preposition relates a noun or a pronoun to another word.
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